I think I said this yesterday…Celebrating a first birthday week every day is EXHAUSTING!

Tuesday marked Day 2 of Davey’s week long first birthday celebration.    On our agenda for the day…Build a Bear, Auntie Anne’s pretzels, and whatever else struck our fancy.    Grammy, Aunt Dee Dee and I were all showered, clothed and ready to hit the road by 10 am.   We arrived at the mall at the perfect time…not a lot of crowds, prime parking, and fast access to Starbucks!

This was a day of firsts for me as well.    While I’ve walked by a Build a Bear store a lot, I’ve never actually been in one before.   Tell you the truth; I’ve always thought the stores were a parent’s worst nightmare.   After all, you build a bear?   I was sure the prices were outrageous, not to mention all the additional little add ons, where the store really makes their money.   It’s a stuffed animal, for crying out loud!   Perhaps it’s not as overpriced as those pathetic, matted ones you can win at a fair, but still stuffed animals are a dime a dozen, right?    Well, that’s before I actually had a child and understood the concept.

Once we were in the store, we were informed as to how the process worked, what we could purchase, the fact that we could name the animal, give it a birth certificate, and even have a house for it as well.   Again, I thought to myself what a rip off, but I was bound and determine to still do this with my son.

So, I took Davey out of his stroller and let him walk along the line of stuffed animals until he picked out the one he wanted, a fudge colored puppy that had a strong resemblance to our dog, Dixie, aka Sissy.   Once Sissy was picked out, we then took her over to the stuffing station where Davey was able to stand on the pedal that pumped in the stuffing.    The next part was picking out a heart for Sissy.   I watched as Davey went through about 20 hearts (all of which pretty much look exactly the same), before finally settling on one.   We took his pacifier out of his mouth and watched as he kissed the heart (actually he tried to eat it), then watched as the heart was sewn into Sissy.    Next we picked out a sound for Sissy, a dog barking, before finally taking her over to the “sink” to be washed and purchasing a red “Happy Birthday”  t-shirt for her.    All of this took place within a 15 minute span, so I was a bit worried as to what else we were going to do on Day 2 of his birthday week celebration.   And as a side note…I’m totally sold on Build a Bear!   Can’t wait to do it again when he’s older.

After creating Sissy’s birth certificate and paying for her, we were off to the next adventure:  Auntie Anne’s pretzels.   Nothing too outstanding to report, but he did enjoy the cinnamon sugar pretzel bites with the glazed dipping sauce.    And before leaving the mall, we partook in one more little thing I hadn’t planned…a train ride through the mall.

It’s been a while since I’ve been to the mall, so I was completely unaware that they had a small train that was driven around one section.   For a small nominal fee, Davey and I hopped into the yellow car, gave the conductor our tickets, and off we went.    What a treat, especially now that my son is waving at anyone and anything that comes along these days.   He waved his hand, sometimes both at the same time, at every person we passed in the mall.   He giggled at a few, but for the most part stood on the seat of the car and waved out the window.    What a little ham!

Day 2 concluded with a strong 2 hour nap that afternoon, for Davey not Mommy!   I don’t know about Davey, but I had fun.     I loved every second with him.   I loved watching his face light up as he made his first Build a Bear.   I loved watching how he gobbled down pretzel bites, begging for them as if he were a starving child.   I loved watching my little precocious bug wave and giggle at every one while on the train.   Most of all, I loved having the blessing of being his mommy and having the opportunity to do these things with him.

Next up on the birthday week celebration:  playground, Runway Café, and Rita’s Italian Ice.    And we’re only halfway through the week!